5 Times Kakashi Was Late
by maranjen
Summary: Kakashi used to be a stuck-up kid who worshipped rules and regulations above everything. He had learned the hard way that following the rules to the letter wasn't always the right thing to do. (pre-series, Kakashi-centric, a story about how Kakashi picked up Obito's bad habits)


Disclaimer: This is a non-commercial fanwork. Naruto and related works was created by Masashi Kishimoto.

* * *

**Five Times Kakashi Was Late**

Kakashi wasn't always the lazy, always-late porn-obsessed bastard he was today. No, he used to be a stuck-up kid who worshipped rules and regulations above everything. At one point, that changed. Kakashi had learned the hard way that following the rules to the letter wasn't always the right thing to do. His biggest regret was not realising how stupid he had been before it was too late.

* * *

I

Kakashi was thirteen years old the first time he was ever late. It was a mission report, and he handed it in 15 minutes past the deadline. (Later, he would wonder what on earth had gotten into him.)

It was the day of the deadline, and by Kakashi's standards, he was already late. He had spent the morning by the memorial stone, as usual, and was about to leave. That was the moment his eyes caught glimpse of Obito's name on the stone, and for a split second, Kakashi could see his dead friend's mischievous smile. Kakashi left an hour later.

He picked up the mission report at home. It was easy to find in the pile of paperwork on his desk, as Kakashi always systematically sorted his files. He shot a glance at the clock, and discovered that he was already five minutes late. His was racing, and he felt a tingling in his stomach he wasn't sure what to make of.

Kakashi grabbed the file and made sure the stack of papers looked exactly like it had before he removed the file. He closed the door behind him, and at a normal pace, he strolled towards the Academy to hand in his report.

The tingling sensation in his stomach got increasingly worse. He felt an irrational urge to smile. _Excitement,_ his mind supplied. Kakashi wasn't used to feeling excited.

He didn't have any friends. Not anymore at least. He wasn't even sure if he _ever_ had any friends. If so, he'd been a really shitty one. Either way, he didn't really have anyone to do stuff with. Kakashi was always alone. His everyday life consisted of going on missions (and preferably spending as much time out there as possible), and visiting dead comrades. Once in a while he would attend to the mandatory jounin meetings. So the feeling of excitement was unfamiliar. Foreign.

It felt somewhat similar to the rush of adrenalin he would sometimes get on some missions. It made his heart beat faster, and gave him a similar feeling in his stomach. This, however, was a much nicer sensation. This was a good kind of tingling. And it made him want to smile. Kakashi couldn't remember last time he truly smiled.

He regarded at all the people passing by. To them, he was just another ninja, and none of them took notice of him. They were just minding their own business. Little did they know that he was a ninja who had broken the rules.

He'd broken the rules.

Oh, god.

Suddenly, the feeling in his stomach changed. The pleasant tingling was gone in an instance, and was replaced by a heavy stone. His eye widened. He'd broken the rules. _He was breaking the rules._

Adrenalin rushed through him. Panic. Kakashi felt his chakra flare as he sped up. This wasn't right. This was wrong. He was late. Kakashi was _never_ late. What was he _doing?_

Kakashi jumped up on the rooftops in order to avoid all the people crowding the streets. He ran as fast as he could, even using _shunshin_. Panting, he arrived at the Academy and stumbled into the mission assignment room. He looked up at the clock, horrified. He was a quarter late.

Minato-sensei sat behind the mission desk along side a few other ninja. The ninja sent him curious glances. Minato-sensei looked worried. "Kakashi, what's wrong? What happened?"

Kakashi stared at his sensei with one wide eye. He didn't say anything for a while, and tried to calm down. "I'm sorry," he said through gritted teeth.

Minato-sensei frowned, but the look of concern was still there. "Why are you apologising? Did something happen?" he asked.

Kakashi continued to stare. The room was empty, aside from the shinobi behind the mission desk and himself. Minato-sensei's distress was getting to the other shinobi, and they sent each other concerned glances. Kakashi didn't know what he had expected. Anger? Disappointment? Minato-sensei didn't look angry, nor disappointed. Was it because he didn't know what was wrong, or did he just not get angry? Kakashi couldn't remember him ever getting angry at Obito for being late. That had been Kakashi.

"Kakashi?"

"Nothing," Kakashi said quickly, cursing his voice for breaking. Minato-sensei did not buy the obvious lie, and seemed to grow more concerned each passing minute.

_Calm down, __damn it_, Kakashi said to himself. There was no reason to be upset. Kakashi did not get upset. He was the calm and level-headed one. Never distressed.

In the end, he decided to act as if nothing happened. "I came to deliver this report," he said and held out the file. Minato-sensei grabbed it. The other shinobi behind the desk shared confused glances, but Kakashi ignored them. Instead, he left before anyone got the chance to open their mouths again.

As he left the mission assignment room, Kakashi decided to forget the whole incident, and pretend it never happened. This was the last time he would ever be late again.

.

"Obito, you bastard," he said the next time he visited the memorial stone. "This is all your fault." The stone didn't reply. It never did.

No matter how much he tried, Kakashi was unable to forget the incident with the mission report. It wasn't because Minato-sensei kept sending him concerned glances whenever he thought Kakashi wasn't looking (though that certainly didn't make it any easier). No, it was the feeling in his stomach he couldn't forget. It was the glimpse of Obito's mischievous grin. Kakashi tried not to think about it, he really did, but he just couldn't let go.

He remembered the excitement he had felt when he decided to wait an extra hour. He remembered the panic he had felt when he got cold feet. Obito never seemed too bothered by being late. He would smile sheepishly and come up with some lame excuse, which, knowing Obito, probably wasn't an excuse at all.

The mental image of Obito's grin had faded, to Kakashi's great disappointment. The memory of the last time he'd seen him—crushed bones, covered in blood, with an empty eye socket—continued to haunt him. The memory was imprinted in his mind, every single detail of it, due to the newly acquired sharingan.

Kakashi closed his visible eye and tried to picture Obito's smile. He could still see it, but the image was tainted by blood. Obito's face soon dissolved into a grimace, and Kakashi pushed the image away.

"Minato-sensei won't leave me alone," Kakashi continued. "He keeps sending me worried glances behind my back, as if I wouldn't notice." He paused.

"It's your fault, you know. If I had just left a little earlier, I wouldn't have been late. I'm not sure if Minato-sensei even noticed that I was late with the report. I think that's why he is so worried. He's unable to figure out what's wrong, which makes him even more worried."

Kakashi sat down beside the stone. "He should just stop worrying. There is nothing wrong, after all. _That_ was a one-time-only kind of incident. I reacted badly to an unfamiliar situation. I should have remained calm. More importantly, I shouldn't have been in that situation in the first place.

"How come you never worried about being late?" he asked the stone. When the stone didn't reply, Kakashi answered for it. "I guess you never cared much about regulations."

That wasn't quite true. _Those who breaks the rules are trash, but those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash,_ Obito had said_._ He didn't necessarily _not _care about rules. He just prioritized. Kakashi had come to realise that following the rules to the letter wasn't always the right thing to do. He had learned that the hard way.

Obito being late never did any harm. He would never do anything to hurt his friends. Perhaps that was why he never seemed too bothered by being late. Even though a proper ninja was supposed to be punctual, being late didn't intervene with Obito's ninja way. So it was fine. No one got hurt, right? It was fine.

In Kakashi's mind, that wasn't quite how things worked.

Kakashi sighed and got up. "I'll see you later, Obito, Rin," he said to the stone before he turned around and left.

* * *

II

The next time Kakashi was late, it was to a mission assignment. He was supposed to lead a three-man squad composed of two chuunin and himself on a B-rank. They would receive the mission details later on.

Kakashi stood in front of the memorial stone, studying the names of his fallen friends carved into the stone. The agreed time for the mission debriefing had come and gone, and Kakashi was still standing by the memorial.

Kakashi had been standing like that for the past few hours. He had been about to leave when he again thought he could see the silhouette of Obito. There was a twinkle in his eye. And so Kakashi stayed.

"I guess I should go," Kakashi said after a while, to no one in particular. Without saying anything more, he turned around and left.

Despite the turmoil of emotions inside of him, Kakashi kept up a calm front. He strolled through Konoha with his hands in his pockets. The rush of excitement was back. If Kakashi happened to be smiling behind his mask, no one would ever know.

When he finally reached the mission assignment desk, he was twenty minutes late. Behind the desk sat three shinobi on desk duty, staring at him with a mixture of confusion, frustration and some other emotion Kakashi was unable to interpret. The two chuunin was leaning against the wall with similar expressions on their faces. Kakashi didn't say anything.

One of the chuunin stood up and declared: "You're late."

Kakashi wasn't quite sure what to do with this situation. He tried to think about Obito. What would he do if he were in Kakashi's place? Kakashi felt an out of place urge to smile. He could almost hear Obito sputter an unbelievable and yet entirely true story about why he was late. Oh, how Kakashi used to hate that. When he thought about it now, he only felt sadness and longing. He would have done anything just to hear one of Obito's excuses once more.

Kakashi didn't recognise the chuunin standing in front of him. She had dark hair and was a head taller than him. She stared at him with accusing brown eyes.

Kakashi wasn't used to people looking at him like that. (More often than not, people would look at him with admiration, jealousy or fear.) He wasn't sure how to feel about it. It was unpleasant. For a moment, he wondered if this was how Obito used to feel when Kakashi looked at him like that. He would add that to the list of How I Failed My Friends.

Instead of responding, Kakashi turned to the mission desk. He provided the desk-shinobi with the name of the temporary squad as well as the mission registration number. One of the desk-shinobi picked up two scrolls.

"This is a B-rank delivery mission. You'll be bringing this scroll to the village of Tanbo, located in Grass Country near the Grass-Rain border," the shinobi said, holding up one of the scrolls. He gave him the other one, the scroll containing mission details, to Kakashi. "We have reason to believe that Iwa-nin will come after the scroll. However, they will most likely not target you until you have left Fire Country. Details inside."

While the desk-shinobi continued talking, Kakashi opened the mission scroll and studied the content. The scroll they were transporting was addressed to Shiroyama Kenjirou, a minor lord from Grass Country, and they were supposed to deliver it within a week. The content of the scroll was not revealed.

When the desk-shinobi was done talking, Kakashi turned to his team, ignoring the sceptic glances they were sending him. They had probably expected more from Hatake Kakashi, child prodigy and genius. Being late wasn't exactly the best first impression.

"We meet by the village gates in five."

* * *

III

The third time Kakashi was late, it was another mission report. This time, he was four days late. He even got a reminder in the mail.

Kakashi felt a high whenever he thought about it for days after it happened.

The desk-shinobi had burnt with anger when he eventually showed up.

"Hatake Kakashi!" he had yelled. He slammed his hand in the desk. "This is unacceptable!"

"Maa, my apologies," Kakashi had mumbled. Under his mask, however, he smirked. But no one would ever know that.

He left the mission assignment room, and headed for the memorial stone to tell Obito about his latest adventure.

* * *

IV

It took a while before Kakashi learned how far he could push the limits, and what was going too far. In the beginning, he was testing the waters. How late could he show up and still get away with it? How far could he go before crossing the line? He learned that the hard way. Minato-sensei had been so angry. Minato-sensei was never angry.

It was quite mortifying, really. It was an all-jounin meeting, where they were supposed to evaluate the recent developments in international politics, recommend potential candidates for the jounin exams, as well as discuss who would be taking on genin-teams after graduation in spring. And Kakashi had been late. Very late.

Minato-sensei was speaking when Kakashi half an hour into the meeting opened the door to the meeting room. They were using one of the classrooms at the academy, as there were few other spaces that fit them all.

"How nice of you to join us, Hatake-san," Minato-sensei said, his blue eyes stone cold. His voice gave nothing away. It was all in his eyes. He looked furious. And… disappointed.

That was the worst. It hit Kakashi like a punch to the face.

The room was quiet, even by shinobi standards, and everyone was looking at him. They stared at him with a varying degree of surprise, fury and disapproval. Kakashi didn't say a word. Beyond ashamed, he entered the room and found a seat.

Minato-sensei looked away again, and continued introducing the next topic of discussion. Kakashi remained quiet for the rest of the meeting.

"Hatake, stay behind," Minato-sensei said when the meeting was over. When everyone had left, he made a gesture for Kakashi to follow him. He followed him up to the Hokage's office.

"Kakashi," Minato-sensei as he sat down. Kakashi sat down in the chair in front of his desk, feeling like a child. "I don't know what's going on with you, but it has to end."

Kakashi didn't say anything, and kept his gaze low.

"I know that Rin's death was hard—"

Kakashi cut him of. "It's not about Rin," he said through gritted teeth.

"I know," Minato-sensei said. The cool gaze from earlier was gone, replaced with Minato's kind eyes and soft expression. "It's about Obito," he said.

Kakashi stood up from his seat. Minato-sensei held his gaze as he struggled for words. He wanted to shout at him. He wanted to scream. But he remained quiet. There was nothing to say.

"Sit down," Minato-sensei said softly, and Kakashi sat.

"I know it's about Obito," Minato-sensei repeated. "I know you're trying to hold on to him, but I'm not sure this is the healthiest way to do that."

Kakashi remained quiet.

"This has been a tough year, I know. And I know it's difficult to cope with everything that's happened. I would like it if you would let us help you. You remember we talked about seeing someone professional?"

"_I'm fine,_" Kakashi hissed. He _was._

He did not want to be here. He didn't want Minato-sensei to worry about him. He wanted to go to the memorial stone.

Minato-sensei sighed again. "Would you like to come to dinner sometime? When you're off duty?

Kakashi relaxed as Minato-sensei changed the subject. He hesitated. He thought about the memorial again. Minato-sensei was the only one he had left. He didn't want to push him away too, as he did everyone else. Rin would have wanted him to go.

"I would like that," he said eventually.

Minato-sensei smiled. "I'm glad."

Kakashi stood up, not looking away from Minato-sensei.

"You can go, Kakashi," Minato-sensei sighed. "Just—take care, okay?"

Kakashi bowed and disappeared from the office.

A moment later, he sat down by the memorial stone, leaning against it. He let his mask—the metaphorical one—slip, and sighed. "I messed up today," he said.

Obito didn't reply. He never did.

"I didn't mean to…" He didn't finish the sentence. He sighed again. He closed his eyes and banged his head against the stone.

Why was he even here? Obito was gone. Rin was gone. He was alone.

Suddenly, the silence became overwhelming. He struggled to control his breath.

It was stupid. What was he doing? Minato-sensei was right.

It was stupid. What did he think he would accomplish? It was stupid, and foolish, and childish, and…

And when had he ever been a child?

Kakashi had always condemned Obito for being childish. He had looked down at him, insulted him, and sneered at him. Kakashi wished he had allowed himself to be a child. He wondered if things would have been different then.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled.

He opened his eyes and looked up. He felt lost.

He was lost.

* * *

V

"Kakashi, are you okay?" Minato-sensei asked one day, finally confronting Kakashi about his concerns. "You have been acting… odd lately."

"I'm fine," Kakashi said, but Minato-sensei didn't look convinced. Kakashi hadn't really expected him to. "I'm fine" had been his catchphrase when he was younger. In a way, it still was. Finding his father dead in a blood pool? "I'm fine." His first kill? "I'm fine." His best friend dies? "I'm fine." He was practically crying wolf.

Kakashi understood Minato-sensei's concern, even if it was pointless. Kakashi _was _fine. In fact, he felt better than he had in a very long time.

As time passed, he got bolder and bolder. 20 minutes late, became two hours late. Mission reports rarely reached their final destination earlier that a week after deadline. It was like an addiction. Every time he was late, he could feel a high. The excitement was intoxicating. And every time the excitement started to fade, he got even bolder. When half an hour wasn't enough, it was three quarters. Three quarters became an hour. One hour became two.

People started talking. There were rumours. But Kakashi didn't care. He was used to people talking about him behind his back. It wasn't anything new. In fact, some of the rumours were actually quite amusing.

The only person to actually worry was Minato-sensei, and Kushina, to some extent. He didn't have any friends. The only other person he spent time with outside of missions was Gai, and that was hardly voluntarily. Gai didn't worry. Whenever he caught him being late, he would rant about how "unyouthful" he was, and proceed to challenging him to some kind of stupid competition. Kakashi always refused.

He was starting to gain quite the reputation. The newly promoted chuunin knew him only as Hatake Kakashi, the tardy jounin. Of course, that didn't mean other rumours disappeared completely. He was still known as child prodigy and friend-killer Kakashi. But the first thing that came to mind when Hatake Kakashi was concerned, was his inability to show up on time.

And Kakashi loved it. He never liked the way people always talked about him behind his back, or when they thought he wasn't listening. When he was young, they saw his father in him. As he got older, it was more and more about his status as prodigy and genius. People, especially lower ranking ninja, would always start whispering and staring when he was around. Then his teammates died, and he was known as cold-blooded Kakashi, and friend-killer Kakashi. The rumours haunted him. He hated it. He liked that people were starting to see him as something else.

He was getting comfortable with his knew persona. He had even started coming up with excuses. He stole some of Obito's old ones. The expressions he got were priceless. Last time, the unlucky victim was a nurse at Konoha Hospital.

"Hatake-san," the nurse said when he finally showed up to his follow-up. He'd somehow managed to break his arm on his latest ANBU-mission.

The nurse was annoyed. He stood in the doorway with his arms crossed. "How nice of you to show up," he said, and his eye twitched.

Kakashi suppressed the urge to grin, and remained utterly serious. "Maa, you see, I was out of pens, so I got delayed."

The nurse sweet-dropped. "_Four hours _delayed?"

"There was a lot of traffic," Kakashi explained.

"You're a _ninja_," the nurse growled. His face was slowly turning red. "Use the bloody rooftops!"

"Well, you know—"

"Just _get in_," he all but yelled and stomped into the examination room.

When the examination was done, he'd gone straight to the memorial stone to talk to Obito. He'd laughed when he told him about the nurse's expression when he tried to explain why he was so late. He liked to think that Obito was laughing with him.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Minato-sensei repeated.

"Really, there's nothing wrong," he tried again. And it wasn't. At least not in the way Minato-sensei thought. He _was_ fine. He felt better than he had in a long time.

Minato-sensei studied him. "If you say so," he said in the end. "Just—If there's anything you want to talk about, you can always come to me, okay?"

"Sure, sensei."

Minato-sensei gave him one more concerned glance, before nodding in resignation. "See you around then. And remember to deliver your mission report," he added with a stern look, before heading off.

Needless to say, Kakashi did not deliver the mission report.

.

Kakashi wasn't always the lazy, always-late porn-obsessed bastard he was today. No, he used to be a stuck-up kid who worshipped rules and regulations above everything. At one point, that changed. Kakashi had learned the hard way that following the rules to the letter wasn't always the right thing to do.

The people around him scoffed at him, laughed at him, and sent him annoyed glances, but Kakashi didn't mind. Every time someone shouted at him, "you're late!", Kakashi would smile to himself and remember.

.

_Fin._

* * *

A/N: Hello! That was it for this story. Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it!

I don't know what my intention with this story was, so it ended up as somewhat messy. Sorry 'bout that. Still, I spent quite some time working on this, so I wanted to post it regardless.

Feel free to leave a comment! I would love to hear what you think \o/


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